Tag Archives: restaurant news

Fine dining restaurants have been the hardest hit segment of the food service industry since the country slid into recession two years ago. Many establishments have closed and other have turned to deep discounting to stay alive during a time when consumers just aren’t willing to spend a lot of …

Late last month it was announced that scientists in Holland have successfully grown pork meat in a petri dish. The meat was developed from special cells called myoblasts that are specifically programmed to repair muscles in a live animal. If they are left in a super rich broth of nutrients, …

There has been much ongoing debate over the effect of public smoking bans on restaurant business. As more and more states move to ban smoking in almost all public buildings, a counterculture has been pushing back by openly flouting the bans in their communities. This counterculture is especially strong along …

Ivar’s Seafood Restaurant in Seattle, Washington pulled off a brilliant piece of restaurant marketing recently, resulting in a 400% increase in clam chowder sales. How did they do it? Well, it’s a funny story actually. Ivar’s dreamed up this scheme to get a kooky story going in the local media …

The 24/7 lifestyle has been creeping further and further into American cities over the course of this decade. People are out later more frequently, and many restaurants, especially in urban centers, are responding by catering to late night diners. If done right, the late night scene can energize your restaurant …

We’ve all had one of those managers who’s just a little bit more hardcore than everybody else. Usually they’re pretty harmless, if not a little annoying. You just have to roll your eyes and get through the extra training seminar they scheduled. A St. Joseph, Missouri Sonic manager probably takes …

Keeping up with the latest and hottest trends in food service could be a full time job in itself. Luckily for you, The Back Burner is here to keep track and distill things down into manageable chunks. This is a quick rundown of the trends we’ve been tracking over the …

House Bill 3962 passed the U.S. House of Representatives last Saturday, and with the vote, which was a close one, the first steps have been taken towards comprehensive health care reform in America. The primary provisions of the bill include: Roughly 96% of Americans would be covered Businesses with less …

One of the big things in campus cafeterias over the last couple years has been trayless dining. Several hundred college food service operations removed trays from their dining facilities, and left the students to eat what they could carry. The initial programs were a huge success, and continue to be …

Since 1993, the FDA has required manufacturers to print nutrition labels on food packages. As Americans become increasingly obese, health-consciousness has powered the trend toward full nutrition disclosure in restaurants as well. The theory is that if we see the caloric impact of foods, we will make healthier choices and …